At today’s session of the Zionist Congress the delegates present unanimously adopted, with great enthusiasm, the programme for re-establishing the Hebrews in Palestine, with publicly recognized rights.
A dispatch was sent to the Sultan of Turkey, thanking his Majesty for the privileges enjoyed by the Hebrews in his empire.
The Zionist Congress opened at Basel yesterday with 200 delegates in attendance from various parts of Europe. Dr. Theodor Herzl, the so-called "New Moses" and originator of the scheme to purchase Palestine and resettle the Hebrews there, was elected President and Dr. Max Nordau was elected Vice President of the Congress.
Dr. Herzl has only recently come into prominence. He seeks to float a limited-liability company in London for the purpose of acquiring Palestine from the Sultan of Turkey and thoroughly organizing it for resettlement by the Hebrews. He has, it is said, already won converts to the Zionistic movement in all parts of the world.
When asked to outline his plans, Dr. Herzl said:
"We shall first send out an exploring expedition, equipped with all the modern resources of science, which will thoroughly overhaul the land from one end to the other before it is colonized, and establish telephonic and telegraphic communication with the base as it advances. The old methods of colonization will not do here.
"See here" continued Dr. Herzl, showing a good-sized book, "this is one of the four books which contain the records of the movement - the logbooks of the Mayflower" he added, with a smile. "That one watchword, the "Jewish State" has been sufficient to rouse the Jews to a state of enthusiasm in the remotest corners of the earth, though there are those forming the so-called philanthropic party who predict that the watchword will provoke reprisals from Turkey. Inquiries in Constantinople and Palestine show that nothing is further from the truth.
"My plan is simple enough. We must obtain the sovereignty over Palestine - our never-to-be-forgotten, historical home. At the head of the movement will be two great and powerful agents - the Society of Jews and the Jewish Company. The first named will be a political organization, and spread the Jewish propaganda. The latter will be a limited-liability company, under English laws, having its headquarters in London and a capital of, say, a milliard of marks. Its task will be to discharge all the financial obligations of the retiring Jews and regulate the economic conditions in the new country. At first we shall send only unskilled labor -that is, the, very poorest, who will make the land arable. They will lay out streets, build bridges and railroads, regulate rivers, and lay down telegraphs according to plans prepared at headquarters. Their work will bring trade, their trade the market, and the markets will cause new settlers to flock to the country. Every one will go there voluntarily, at his or her own risk, but ever under the watchful eye and protection of the organization,
"I think we shall find Palestine at our disposal sooner than we expected. Last year I went to Constantinople and had two long conferences with the Grand Vizier, to whom I pointed out that the key to the preservation of Turkey lay in the solution of the Jewish question.
"The Jews, in exchange for Palestine, would regulate the Sultan’s finances and prevent disintegration, while for Europe we should form a new outpost against Asiatic barbarism and a guard of honor to hold intact the sacred shrines of the Christians.
"We can afford to play a waiting game, I and either take over Palestine from the European Congress called together to divide the spoils of disintegrated Turkey, or look out for another land, such as Argentina, and say: "Your Zion is there"
"It is to confer over this point that the congress was arranged for at Basel."
"I am sure that the Jews are even better colonists than Englishmen. There are already colonies of Jews in Palestine, and I have on my table excellent Bordeaux, Sauterne, and cognac grown in that country. It is well known that in Galicia and the Balkans, the Jews perform the roughest kind of manual labor. There the wealth they bring is not their money, but themselves.”